By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 18th, 2024
According to the US Army announcement, Microsoft will deliver over 120,000 devices based on its HoloLens augmented reality headsets.
Technology company Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) has won a contract with the US Army to deliver augmented reality headsets. Per the contract, Microsoft will deliver the augmented reality headsets, worth up to $21.9 billion, over the next 10 years. After the Army announced the new contract on the 31st of March, MSFT stock closed at a 1.7% gain to $235.77.
Additionally, The new deal shows that Microsoft can generate income from other areas apart from the basic operating systems and productivity software.
Microsoft to Deliver AR Headsets to US Army
According to the US Army announcement, Microsoft will deliver over 120,000 devices based on its HoloLens augmented reality headsets. The HoloLens cost $3,500 and help users to see holograms covering the actual surface of their environment. The new deal came after Microsoft won a $480 million contract in 2018 to provide prototypes of the Integrated Visual Augmented System (IVAS) to the US Army.
CNBC said one of its reports tried an IVAS prototype in 2019. According to the reporter, the IVAS prototype displayed a map and a compass and could identify people in the dark. The IVAS prototype could reveal the aim of a weapon.
Furthermore, a technical fellow at Microsoft and the lead developer of the HoloLens noted in a blog post published on the 31st of March:
“The IVAS headset, based on HoloLens and augmented by Microsoft Azure cloud services, delivers a platform that will keep soldiers safer and make them more effective. The program delivers enhanced situational awareness, enabling information sharing and decision-making in a variety of scenarios.”
In the official contract, the Army said that the IVAS helps soldiers on certain skills. The Army said it will help the soldiers to fight, rehearse, and train with its multiple technologies aggregated in one system.
The US Army added in a statement:
“The partnership between the Army and Microsoft illustrates areas that the Department of Defense and industry can work together towards achieving modernization priorities in the interest of national security.”
Microsoft secured a contract with the Defense Department in 2019 for the provision of cloud services. At that time, Microsoft beat out Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), a frontier in the cloud market. Since then, Amazon has entered into a legal battle with Microsoft in federal court.
MSFT Stock Records Constant Gains
Apart from Microsoft reacting to news of the new deal by adding nearly 2%, the technology company has been pulling in gains over the past year. According to MarketWatch data, Microsoft stock has climbed 55% over the past year. Also, the tech giant has increased 6% since the beginning of January. In the last three months, MSFT stock has gained 6.36% and has advanced 3.61% over the past month. In the last five days, Microsoft has upped 0.13%.
At press time, Microsoft stock is at the pre-market trading price of $238.39. The current pre-trading price shows a 1.12% gain over its previous close of $235.77.